Review "Children of Heaven"

    

Children of Heaven tells the story of brother and sister who live in a poor section of Teheran and have to make do with one pair of shoes between them. The polemic began when the older brother accidentally lost his sister's shoes. As a result, because they do not have any other shoes, the two of them share shoes so that they’re still able to attend school.

Children’s world is presented through the innocence of the gesture and behavior of the young characters. Since this film is based on a children’s point of view, which is also seen as an innocent point of view, the story mainly shows the simplicity and purity of childhood life. For example, the scene of encounter with an angry schoolmaster, a moment of blowing bubbles, a time of panic when a sneaker falls in an active sewage drain, the happiness of getting a gift, and the soothing comfort of cooling feet in the courtyard pond. 

As its title Children of Heaven, the film has great values ​​from the two heavenly children, Ali and Zahra. The world of children is reflected in the way they love and care each other as siblings. Although there is a small fighting, the sincerity, affection, responsibility, respect among family can also be caught. The value is also seen in Ali's figure who is although innocent yet full of responsibility as well as tough. It implicitly tells the real definition of ‘heaven’, makes the audience aware of how noble the character Ali is, for being so good, for loving his sister, for helping his parents, and for being everything that a parent would want a child to be.

Another moment showing children’s world is when Zahra followed her schoolmate having her shoes to home. It shows the child’s side which is still not willing to let others own her stuff. Besides, the mature side of the children is presented on their decision to not tell their parents about the lost of Zahra’s shoes. It shows that they really did not want to burden them.

Since this film takes the background of the poverty of the Iranian population and it represents the real-life situation in Teheran, there is a sharp contrast drawn of the poverty between the cities. One of the representation of the adult’s world is the hardships that Ali’s father goes through in trying to make a living for his family. Moreover, this struggle is shown in their poverty. That even if life is lacking, it doesn't stop them from doing good.

            Another example of representation of the adults’ world can be seen in the scene when Zahra made tea for her father. She innocently told his father to take the sugar cubes that he had broken. But he refused by saying that the sugar belonged to the mosque. From this scene, honesty becomes a valuable lesson that adult exemplifies to children. Besides, the role of adult is also shown in the way Ali’s mother sends their food to neighbor.

Repetition, didacticism, and innocence are the aspects of children literature conducted in this film. Repetition is reflected in the way Ali and Zahra exchange shoes everyday so they can still go to school. Those scenes are showed repeatedly. The childhood’s life itself, such as blowing bubble, playing with a new friend, pleasure for getting gift, shows didacticism, since didacticism means children story is written not only to entertain children, but also to educate them. The film teaches about sincerity, modesty, heartiness, and struggle, or to love siblings, to respect parents, to help each other, and to be honest person. While innocence is showed by the young characters’ purity. It consists of situations any child can identify with. As said above, Ali was scared to meet his grumpy teacher, or the happiness when getting a bolpoint, or the cheerfulness when they played bubble and washed shoes.

Children of Heaven is a simple yet wonderful story about family which is able to educate, entertain, inform and depict reality. The choice of setting, story line, dialogue and characterization of the film are complete pictures of reality, the reality of simplicity and the struggle for life. I, personally, think that the bittersweet ending of the film is well-created. With a heart-thumping finish, Children of Heaven reminds the audience that the dramatic life of a child and its never-ending anxieties will go on until they grow up to be adult.